Cerkiew w Rzeczycy koło Kamieńca (Litewskiego) i jej wyposażenie w 1725 r., na tle porównawczym do innych cerkwi dekanatu kamienieckiego unickiej diecezji włodzimiersko-brzeskiej tego czasu

ENIn the description of the visitation from 1725 the Uniate church in Rzeczyca near Lithuanian Kamyenyets attracts attention with its interesting and rich equipment. Apart from the traditional iconostasis the temple had six baroque side altars with icons of Saint Josaphat, Saint Anthony of Padua, Jesus of Antakalnis, Crucifixion, Black Madonna of Częstochowa, and Saint Francis of Assisi. This choice of depictions is an interesting example of the Uniate religious culture during the Commonwealth. The collators of this parish – the Pociejs – undoubtedly had an influence on this choice. The description of the visitation of the Rzeczyca Uniate church revealed the need to analyse the descriptions of visitations of the other 34 Uniate churches of the Kamyenyets deanery of that time in order to gain a wider picture and place of the Rzeczyca Uniate church compared to the other temples. As a result of the research it was determined that the churches of this diocese included temples with complete traditional iconostases, with incomplete iconostases, with archaic asymmetric iconostases, without the icon of Deesis in the iconostasis as well as newly built temples without an iconostasis or ones where it was replaced with a composition of high and side baroque altars. It was common to place a mensa directly in front of the sovereign tier of icons in an iconostasis thus initially creating side altars. 18 Uniate churches already contained, apart from the iconostasis, individual side altars – usually one or two. In a few of the Uniate churches the icons of Saint Josaphat and saints from the Western Church, such as Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Casimir, were also noted.The descriptions of the visitations from 1725 show the process of assimilation of the elements of the Roman Catholic traditions to the Uniate church tradition, a process which requires further research, both on the premises of the diocese and the whole Uniate Kyiv Metropolis of that time. Keywords: Uniate church in the Commonwealth, Uniate church architecture, Uniate Volodymyr-Brest diocese, visitation of the Uniate church, furnishings of the Uniate church, icons, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Belarus, Rzeczyca, Kamyenyets (Lithuanian).